WASHINGTON—The Education Department is providing loan relief to some 7,800 former students of the ITT Technical Institute, with debts totaling $95.1 million being forgiven by the government years after the giant for-profit school chain closed. The department said that it has identified 7,878 former students of ITT Tech as eligible for a program in which loans are discharged automatically within three years of a school closure. Of those borrowers who attended the school, 7,697 had received loan forgiveness as of Jan. 3.

Defrauded college students will no longer be taxed on their canceled loans | Washington Post

January 16, 2020

Student loan borrowers whose education debt has been canceled because their college closed or engaged in fraud will no longer face a tax bill, relief that arrives as applications for forgiveness continue to grow. On Wednesday, the Internal Revenue Service issued guidance shielding borrowers from having their discharged federal and private loans treated as taxable income. The measure is effective for education loans canceled on or after Jan. 1, 2016. Anyone affected by the new policy may claim a credit or refund for an overpayment of taxes.

Former Corinthian Colleges students are asking a federal judge to impose higher fines against the Education Department after the agency disclosed it pursued scores of additional borrowers for debt collection in violation of a court order.

Overburdened by education loan is a common narrative associated with almost every other student in the US, but what seems tough, is about to get tougher. As per the new plan unveiled by the US Education Department, students who are cheated by their colleges will receive full loan forgiveness, only if they end up earning far less than their peers.

Education Secretary Betsy DeVos overruled career staff at the department’s Borrower Defense Unit, deciding to force student borrowers to partially pay back their loans even though they had been defrauded by for-profit colleges, according to documents obtained by NPR.

Betsy DeVos Ignored her Own Staff, Forced Students Defrauded by For-Profit Colleges to Pay | Salon

December 12, 2019

Education Secretary Betsy DeVos overruled career staff at the department’s Borrower Defense Unit, deciding to force student borrowers to partially pay back their loans even though they had been defrauded by for-profit colleges, according to documents obtained by NPR.

Why Defrauded Students Still Can’t Get Debt Relief | The Takeaway

December 12, 2019

Tens of thousands of students across the country have been defrauded by for-profit colleges. On Wednesday, NPR reported on internal documents that show how career staffers at the Department of Education believed that students in these situations should have their debts forgiven, but that Education Secretary Betsy DeVos overruled them.

Betsy DeVos Says Students May Only Get Partial Loan Relief in Fraud Cases | Market Watch

December 11, 2019

Students who are cheated by their colleges will receive full loan forgiveness only if they end up earning far less than their peers, while others will receive relief between 25% and 75% of their debt under new rules unveiled Tuesday by the U.S. Education Department. The policy is a departure from the Obama administration, which provided full loan forgiveness in cases of fraud, and it marks the second time the Trump administration has attempted to provide only partial loan relief.

Documents obtained by NPR shed new light on a bitter fight between defrauded student borrowers and U.S. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos. These borrowers — more than 200,000 of them — say some for-profit colleges lied to them about their job prospects and the transferability of credits. They argue they were defrauded and that the Education Department should erase their federal student loan debt under a rule called “borrower defense.”

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